Monochrome Prism
by Gyongyi McIan
Summary: A spell to get Conner back goes wrong, but the group scores some extra help in the search for Conner from it. Angel/Buffy X-over (A/C, Gr/C, F/G, X/A; B/S, B/A implied)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own them.  
  
Timeline: This'll take place before the ep where Anya and Xander don't get married in Buffyworld cause I haven't seen any eps after that one, and I don't want to deal with the aftermath of that one. Giles is here because I like him. Angel: up to and including when Cordelia comes back. This is after the big slug thing ep.  
  
Summary: A plan to rescue Conner from Quor'toth goes wrong, but scores the AI gang some extra help in the search for Conner. -----  
  
Chapter One  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Angel stood in the middle of the salt pentagram and began to chant. Lorne was standing in the northern corner, Fred in the east, Gunn in the southeast, Groo in the southwest, and Cordelia in the west. Angel continued to chant, the five people standing in the corners of the pentagram all bent down to get their papers. When Angel hit the cue word the five began to chant different phrases to the same beat. As they continued, the circle of salt around the outside of the circle began to spin and rise like a hurricane above the ground.  
  
"Angel!" Fred exclaimed, unable to see as the pentagram shone a blinding white.  
  
When the hurricane settled and the blinding light faded, the pentagram, books, papers, and herbs sat as they had previously, but none of the spell casters remained.  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Buffy sighed and stepped towards the register of the Magic Box. "Which one did you want again, Giles?"  
  
"For the third time Buffy, listen! The green one - "Occultus"."  
  
Buffy nodded, and reached across the counter to grab the book, but spun around when she saw the whirlwind spinning around the shop. He her a distant "Get down!" and didn't stop to wonder where it had come from. Darting behind the counter, she watched over the top as a portal opened horizontally about seven feet off the floor in the shop. Glancing over to Xander and Giles, they seemed to be in a similar state of disbelief. Looking back at the portal, she got read to fight whatever came out of it. She covered her eyes with her arm when she saw a bright flash of light, and spun back around the counter when the items that had been flying around the room settled. Everyone gasped as she saw six forms fall out of the portal, two of which were recognizable.  
  
Xander jumped up from his seat when he saw who'd fallen through the portal. "Cordelia?" he asked, unable to believe who was there.  
  
"Angel?" Buffy asked at the same moment.  
  
Both people looked up from their positions on the floor when they heard their names. Angel and Groo had been thrown in opposite directions, Fred and Gunn had both landed face up side by side, and Cordelia had landed on Lorne's chest. Angel and Groo jumped up, both intent on tearing Cordelia off Lorne as she stood, ignoring them, and held out a hand to pull Lorne off the floor. Seeing that she was all right, Angel and Groo turned towards the people looking at them.  
  
Cordelia looked towards the group from Sunnydale. "So, I'm guessing the spell didn't work."  
  
The bell on the door rang as it opened. "Hey, I got the -" Willow trailed off as she saw the assembled group, " - book."  
  
"Hi, Willow. Everyone," Cordelia said, "This can easily be explained. I think."  
  
"Princess where are we -"  
  
"PRINCESS???" Xander's voice practically screeched as he heard Groo's first words. "You finally found a guy that calls you princess. Congratulations, Cordy." He shook his head, mumbling, "Princess!"  
  
"Xander shut up."  
  
"May I ask, what are you all doing here?" Giles's voice cut through the sharp bickering. Gunn turned to Giles and stuck out his right hand. "Charles Gunn. Call me Gunn. We were doin' a spell -" he stopped, turning to Angel's still form. "Do you wanna take over now?" Angel glanced over at him, a panicked expression on his face, before looking back at Buffy. Gunn sighed, about to continue, when Lorne stepped in.  
  
"I'll take it from here, toots," the green demon began, turning to the Sunnydale group. "Hi, I'm Lorne." At their defensive stances he continued, "I'm good, I'm not gonna hurt anyone." He sighed, turning to Cordelia and Angel. "Help me out here guys, you know them."  
  
"He is good," Cordelia tried. She looked at their faces, which had not lost their defensive looks, and sighed. This was going to be a long night.  
  
TBC.. 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
"So, let me get this straight. Lorne is a good demon, from a dimension called Pylea. Fred was trapped there for five years and then Cordy got a vision of her," Xander looked at the group. "How am I doing so far?"  
  
Cordelia nodded, then gestured for him to continue. The group, slightly more sedate now, sat around the table in the magic box. While the Sunnydale group sat at the table with Cordelia and Fred, the AI guys stood behind them or, like Angel and Gunn, leaned against the counter. Groo stood directly behind Cordelia, waiting to procure her every want and need.  
  
"Cordelia got sucked into a portal from Pylea and you all went in to save her," he continued, shaking his head in disbelief at what was to come next, "Then the Pylean elders or whatever made her - QUEEN? Of a dimension?"  
  
"I think it was just that planet in that dimension, but I'm not sure. Anyways, continue," Cordelia cut into his thoughts.  
  
Giles stood, and turned towards the bookshelf on the wall. "What else can you tell me about the dimension? Maybe I can find something on it," Giles mused.  
  
"Sir, I can tell you anything you need to know about Pylea, for I am the Grusalugg!" Groo exclaimed, puffing out his chest in pride. With one hand on the back of Cordelia's chair and one balled in a fist and bent towards his chest, it was hard to tell whether he looked intimidating or silly.  
  
"You've already said that. What, in God's name, is a Grusalugg?" Giles asked, frustrated at the group's lack of progress.  
  
Gunn stepped foreword now, leaving Angel to sulk against the counter alone, and cut into the conversation, "The Grusalugg's like a champion best that we can think of. We just call him Groo."  
  
The door slammed again. "Now what's all the hubbub about chaps?" Spike said, a little to perky for anyone's taste.  
  
"Spike, get out," Giles growled as he stalked towards the irritation vampire. "I don't want to see your bleached head again."  
  
When Spike gave him a look that was partially a smirk and partially a pout, Angel decided to cut in, "Bringing Marcus to torture us again, boy?" he asked with Angelus's patented sneer. He smirked, decided to take his anger out on Druscilla's childe. "Get lost, William." Spike took a look at Angel and scoffed, but did a double take at the anger on his face. As he began to back slowly out of the shop, Angel decided the younger vampire wasn't moving fast enough and grabbed the collar of his leather duster, yanking him out of the shop and throwing him outside onto the pavement. Slamming the door behind him, he turned back to the group and looked directly at Buffy, "Spike?"  
  
She winced and looked to Willow for support. Jumping up with the intent on distracting Angel, she said, "Frogs! They're everywhere!" and winced as the group stared at her in confusion. Looking back at Buffy, Willow tried to explain herself, "I don't do well under pressure."  
  
The AI group looked at each other, unsure of what had just happened.  
  
Shaking his head to clear it of cobwebs, Xander continued, "After they made you Queen they - tried to breed you? Who would want little yous running around?"  
  
Groo jumped up at the apparent threat to his princess. "I object to that you slime beast!"  
  
"Who's calling my fiancé a slime beast!"  
  
"He is acting exactly like a slime beast from the pits of Sarzan! He -"  
  
"No one calls my honey a slime beast no matter home much like one's he's acting!" Anya screamed, and leapt out of her chair towards Groo. As she leapt towards him, her leg caught the side of Cordelia's chair as the seer tried to vacate it. Her movement wasn't fast enough, and she got knocked out of her chair diagonally across the room, away from the action, straight into Angel's waiting arms.  
  
Both were more than slightly shocked at the events occurring before them, but opted to stand on the side as the fight between the current Grusalugg and a former vengeance demon went on. Even though Groo was supposed to be a champion, Anya was over 1000 years his senior, and it wasn't immediately obvious who had the upper hand in the fight.  
  
Angel and Cordelia looked at each other, then at the group sparring and tried to stop the sparring in front of them. Shaking her head, Cordelia gave one last glance to the group before exiting through the front door of the shop. Angel scurried behind her after a moment, attempting to catch up. Giles noticed the two exit, but was too busy attempting to pull Anya's hands away from Groo's throat to act on what he'd seen.  
  
Buffy, on the other hand, pulled away from the fighting pair when she saw Angel and Cordelia exit the shop, she walked towards the door, oblivious to the group's cries for help. As she opened the door and stepped out into the cool night, she could hear the two conversing quietly.  
  
"How are you going to tell her about Conner?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"But-"  
  
"I don't know, Cordy. I just want my son back."  
  
Buffy's mouth dropped open and she whispered, "Son?" loudly enough to cause both of their heads to turn towards her. She barely saw Cordelia bite her lip and shift her weight from foot to foot as her gave focused on Angel's face. "You have a son?"  
  
Angel looked at Cordelia, trying to decide a way to gracefully handle the situation. When her face yielded no results, he turned back to Buffy, took a deep breath (necessary to speak) and said, "Yes. He's only a couple months old." He looked down at his feet and scuffed his toe on the ground like a little boy. Cordelia bit her lip and looked up at the other woman.  
  
"Who-" Buffy started, but stopped when she started hyperventilating. She tried again, "Who's the mother?"  
  
Angel continued to stare downwards, fascinated by his feet. Cordelia looked over at him, then turned back to Buffy and simply stated, "Darla."  
  
Buffy's mouth opened, but she floundered, unable to speak. Taking a quick glance at Angel, who was now staring at her with a questioning expression on his face, she shook her head. "No. No, it's impossible." She threw her hair to one side. "You're just joking or something. Darla was staked - I saw you do it! - and vampires can't have kids." She tilted her head thoughtfully at this point and broached, "You adopted him, right? Some little tyke's parent's got killed by a big bad demon and you took the poor guy in. How sweet!" At this point she'd sashayed up to him and threw her arms around him in a tight embrace. "Angel - a daddy! Who'd a thunk it!"  
  
"Buffy - "  
  
"No! You don't have to explain it to me! I understand! I even think it's great," she said, cutting him off.  
  
"No, Buffy, it's - "  
  
"Hey, I'm gonna go see if everything's cooled down. Later!" Buffy called to them as she walked back into the shop. Angel and Cordelia just turned to stare at each other, unsure of what had just happened. 


End file.
